Small Lake Winter Fishing

I have been wondering for awhile is it possible to catfish or very many in the winter fishing from the bank. I have been bank fishing for years mostly summer evenings and nights. I do a lot of fishing at some Cons. Lakes and some rivers when it allows. Most of the time it is for channels in the Cons. lakes. So my question would be can you successfully catch channel cats in the winter? If so what baits would be good? I normaly fish with stink baits and worms but this might not work in cooler weather. Any info on whether it would even be worth my time to try and do some bank fishing would be greatly appreciated!

Dunno where the channels go on small lakes, but I catch quite a few of them (not much size, but fun in the winter) in cold (35 - 37 deg) water in small feeder creeks and backwaters on the Missouri river. I prefer liver when going for channels, but shad will work. I have found that liver outfishes the shad most of the time in winter for me on channels. I would assume that they would be deeper in the lake, but I don't know for sure as 99% of the time I'm on the river. If you're close to the river, you might try bank fishing near the boat ramps. Lexington in particular has a pretty deep hole right off of the ramp and I take my son there bank fishing during the winter sometimes when I'm too lazy to get the boat out and want to see the river. Good Luck!

I would go with Branden's idea on liver, maybe some medium sized minnows also, and the spots would start with looking for any light current, Have caught many 1-2# channel through the ice on the pond and the little lake down the road, I would think that you could get into a nice day from the bank, just try a few different depths to see. when we get them through the ice we are usually targeting crappie and gills, and are fishing on the edges of holes or creeks, some type of drop off, alot of them places there is either brush piles or fell tree tops. Usually use medium minnows 2-3" and meal worms so, I would think you should do ok with liver and worms. Wish it would either warm up or get cold enough to freeze the stinking water! LOL. Hasn't been good ice here for 3 years. Good Luck in your search for them tasty cold water fillets.
Randy